A bunch of first year University students spending all of their student loan money on drinks, sleeping till noon and hiding away in their new room. This common perception couldn’t be further from my experience of the often talked about, but little understood O-Week.

Day One of being an “adult adult” in University Hall couldn’t have gone any better. The eighth floor is the perfect floor to inhabit for the next 10 months. People don’t hate on you if you take the elevator. (Two very slow elevators between 500 people make for some long waits.) ((If you get put on floor 3 or below, save yourself and take the stairs.)) But if you do choose to take the stairs, it’s the perfect mix of your daily cardio and good time management skills. Plus, how could you not love waking up to this view everyday!

 

Day One also marks the day where you have to step outside of your comfort zone and actually talk to a minimum of 30 new people. These are the people who you will be sharing walls, bathrooms and experiences with so don’t shut yourself away! Making friends was what scared me the most about moving away from home. But just remember everyone is in the same boat and when you forget the persons name you are speaking to for the 5th time in one conversation, they are super understanding. Now I’m not going to lie to you and say we were friends at first sight and it wasn’t awkward at times but after dinner when we just sat in the common room together, it just clicked and the floor fam was developing. Some of the best fun I have had during O Week was on that first night, and despite what people tend to believe, we didn’t even leave our common room to have that fun.

Side Note for Day One- PLEASE unpack and tidy up your room, when you arrive is the best time to do this, otherwise you will get sidetracked and live in a mess for the rest of the week and everyone will judge you.

Now of course O-Week wouldn’t be O-Week without the partying. The peak of the peak for parties was the infamous first year toga party. The ‘gram pics you can get from this event are limitless and did you even go to Uni if you didn’t get the obligatory toga pic? Your Snapchat/Facebook/Instagram friends may not be that keen of the millions of videos/boomerangs/pictures you post from that night, but some of the greatest memories I have made so far are as a result of that night so whatever you do, get involved and don’t miss it!

Another side note- Look Sharp off Queen Street has all the goods you need to ace this theme but start learning how to tie your toga asap because when it is an hour before you are leaving and you haven’t practiced, life becomes a tad stressful.

I’m leaving O-Week with a lost eftpos card, a messy room and very tired, but I have gained a new floor family (so cliché I know) that is going to make this stressful year quite bearable, maybe even fun.